document resume gartrell, richard b. are you already a ... · "alvin toffler: future...

DOCUMENT RESUME

ED 102 631 CS 500 999

AUTHOR Gartrell, Richard B.TITLE Are You Already a Victim of Future Shock?

Communication and Future Shock.PUB DATE Jan 75NOTE 14p.; Syllabus prepared for interterm course taught

at Doane College, Crete, Nebraska

EDRS PRICE NF-$0.76 HC-$1.58 PLUS POSTAGEDESCRIPTORS *Communication (Thought Transfer); Decision Making;

Educational Objectives; *Futures (of Society); HigherEducation; Learning Activities; *Teaching Guides

ABSTRACTThe objectives of this course are (1) to assist each

participant with the development of a consciousness about the futureand the impact of change; (2) to assist each participant indiscussing and assessing the implications of change and future shockin our present times; and (3) to stimulate each participant'screative abilities as to how the future might to and, therefore, whatkinds of action might be warranted. The course guide is divided intotwo sections entitled: Can Technology Solve the Problems Caused byTechnology? and Setting the Course for the Future. Each sectioncontains several behavioral objectives and learning activities,including discussing the book "Future Shock," preparing a multimediapresentation on future shock, writing ft science fiction story, andpreparing a report on the values and role of future society. (TS)

U S DEPART/0E1.T OF HEALTH.EOUCATION &WELFARENATIONAL INSTITUTE OF

EDUCATIONTHIS DOCUMENT HAS BEEN REPRODUCE. ExACTLY AS RECEIVED FROMTHE P.7.RsON OR ORGANIZATION ORIGIN*TING IT POINTS OF VIEW OR OPINIONSSTATED DO NOT NECESSARILY REPRESENT OFF iCIAL NATIONAL INSTITUTE OF

POSITION OR POLICY

BEST COPY NAME

"COMMUNICATION AND FUTURE SHOCK"

INTERTERM JANUARY 1970

DOANE COLLEGECRETE, NEBRASKA

ilsoarramilmimib a Am 06.

APG you sipesdy victimof Future shock?

Instructor

Richard B. GartrellAssistant Professor of Communication

2

PERMISSION TO REPRODUCE THIS COPY.RIGHTED MATERIAL HAS BEEN GRANTED BY

Richard B. Gartrell_ .

TO ERIC AND ORGANIZATIONSOPERATING

UNDER AGREEMENTS WITH THE NATIONAL IN-STITUTE OF EDUCATION FURTHER REPRO-DUCTION OUTSIDE THE ERIC SYSTEM RE.QUIRES PERMISSION OF THE COPYRIGHTOWNER

INTRODUCTION.

Society is experiencing a nervous breakdown; the accelerated pace ofchange and novelty are having a devastating affect upon institutions and man.We are no longer isolates, living in our own worlds; we have through theinventions of technology, become part of a global village.

There was a time when you knew what tomorrow would bring; those were thegood old days. The future isn't what it used to be. Conceptions of time,space, work, religion, sex, family, and social institutions in general arechanging, and in many instances, overnight. Society is in constant turmoil.There is mass disorientation. The world into which all of us plunge eachmorning is increasingly filled with new-ness. Given few clues as to whatkind of behavior is rational, under the radically new circumstances, many in-dividuals, their senses rattled and stretched and shattered, suffer the diseaseof change--future shock.

Limits to the amount of change that the human organism can absorb arebeing discovered; however, submitting man to change without first determiningthe limits of tolerance is to run the risk of throwing masses of men intofuture shock. How adaptable is man? Future shock is defined as "the distress,both physical and psychological that arises from an overload of the humanorganism's physical adaptive systems and its decision-making processes."1Future shock is a phenomena of time, a product of an accelerated rate ofchange in society arising from the superimposition of new cultures on old ones.

Reacting to gross social changes--the equivalent of a millennia of changewithin the compressed span of a single lifetime--man has been described assuffering from exhaustion, imbalance, fatigue, hypersensitivity, confusion,bewilderment, psychic maladjustment, and irritability. Within society, wesee some of the extensions of these psychological and physical breakdowns:the spreading use of drugs, social withdrawal, the rise of mysticism, therecurrent outbreaks of vandelism and undirected violence, the lack of personalinvolvement, moral neutrality, the politics of nehilism and nostalgia, andthe sick apathy of millions. Ours is an anxious society, manifesting appre-hension, dread or chronic fear from the uncertainties of our times.

The objectives of this interterm experience fall into the followingdimensions:

(1) To assist each participant with the development of con-sciousness about the future and the impact of change;

(2) To assist each participant in discussing and assessingthe implications of change and future shock in ourpresent times.

(3) And to stimulate each participant's creative abilitiesas to how the future might be, and therefore, what kindsof "shock absorbers" might be warranted.

The basic assumption of this performance-based curriculum is that theparticipant has the freedom to come and go in order to do the necessary

1Toffler, Alvin, Future Shock.

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research; probably the best way to describe the structure is to indicate thatthere is a preceptor, and a resource center to which participants come to view,listen to, or discuss materials. A significant amount of the work would there-fore be accomplished ''outside" the walls of any given classroom setting.Learning activities have been arranged to allow the most efficient use ofallotted time.

COURSE SCHEDULE.

See attached.

GRADING SYSTEM.

Student option.

The future always arrivesa little before you're ready

to give up the present.

Ca teeethic Gm tice

woetee

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INSTRUCTIONAL OBJECTIVE #1

To assist with the development of a consciousness about the future.

BEHAVIORAL OBJECTIVE #1

Upon completion of the following learning activities, the learner will havebeen able to evaluate change and its affect upon their-own life-style.

LEARNING ACTIVITIES FOR B.O. #1

1. Take and evaluate the results of the "Social Readjustment RatingScale." Discuss the results of this scale within a small group;what kinds of implications about your behavior can you derivefrom the scale score as reldted to adjustment?

2. Construct a personal chart in which the following can be plottedand assessed:a How long have you lived in your present home?b How many jobs has your father held in the last five years?c Is your father planning to change jobs this year (including

assignments with same employer ?)(d) How many close friends do you have within a 5 mile radius of

your home? Within 10 mile radius? Within 25 mile radius?Within 50 mile radius?

e How many homes have you lived in?How many schools have you attended?

g How many friends have your written within the last week, whoyou knew from living elsewhere? Within the last 2 weeks?Within t,,1 last month? Within the last year?

(h) How many new people do you come in contact with each day? Forhow long does ;,1 our contact last?.idHow many jobs h.ie you held?How old is your home? Car? Pets? TV Set(s)? Appliances?When was the last time you bought new clothing? What did youBuy, and why?

1What was the last item of clothing you discarded? Why?What was the last nick-nack you discarded, and why?

n What is your oldest piece of wearable clothing (includingshoes)?

(o) Where have you gone on your vacations during each of the lastfive years? Where do you expect to go this year? How muchtravel eras involved in each trip?

(p) What are your values toward each of the following: sex, marriage,religion, family, work, government, environment?

(q) What are your family's values toward each of the above items?Do you agree with them and/or do they agree with you? Can youprovide reasons for the agreement and/or disagreement? If youdo not agree with them, can you provide a reason as to what itwas that affected your decision?

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Compare your personal chart with other members in a small group; pre-pare a composite chart for your small group. What kinds of generalizationscan you make from the composite chart about life styles, and about theaffects of change, novelty, and mobility on life patterns?

3. Participate in a value clarification exercise. Discuss implicationsof your involvement.

COMPLETION CRITERIA FOR B.O. #1

Each learner will turn in the Readjustment Scale and their Personal Chart forappropriate credit notation. Secondly, each small group will be prepared toshare with the total class, their findings about their group, and theirgeneralizations.

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"COMMUNICATION & FUTURE SHOCK" SCHEDULE

The following schedule is privided for the first five (5) days of the interterm;there are planned two meetings per day, one in the morning from 9:30 - noon,and agdin in the afternoon from 1 until 3 p.m.

DAY #1A.M. (1) Read & Discuss Syllabus

(2) View: "Future Schock"(3) Discuss Film Materials(4) Read Future Shock Handout

Assignment:

Listen to "2000 A.D. withChet HuntleyDiscuss Audio TapeRead Article "Up-datingthe Crystal Ball" (73)

(4) Do I.0.#1, B.O. #1.Read and be prepared to discuss Toffier's Future Schock,Chapters 1-8.

DAY #21 A.M. (1) Discuss Future Shock,

Chapters 1-8(2) View "This is Marshall

McLuhan: The Medium is theMessage"

(3) Discuss Film materials.Assignment: Read and be prepared to discuss Toffler's Future Shock,

Chapters 9-16 and Fabun's The DynamIcs of Change, Chaptersland 6 3 and 4.

P.M. (I) Form Mini-Think Tanks(2) Review Syllabus for ap-

propriate objectives.Check I.0.#1, B.O.'s 1-4and I.0.#2, 1.0.#1.

A.M.DAY #3

Discuss effler and abun s P.M.materials.

(2) View "Fuller's World" (3 parts)Discuss.

Assignment: Read and be prepared to discuss Toffler's Future Schock,Chapters 15-17, Fabun's The Dynamics of Change, Chapters2, and assigned articles.

iew R. BuckminsterFuller: Prospects forHumanity." Discuss.

DAY #401 Discuss reading materials 1P.M.

and related objectives.(2) View "Man's Impact on the

Environment." Discuss.Assignment: Finish reading all assigned readings in lroffler and Fabun;

have completed for discussion on fifth day materials relatedto 1.0. #1 and 1.0. #2.

DAY #5A.M. (1) Listen to "Toward 1984". Discuss article on Futurism & tape,

and materials for 1.0. #2.

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Upon completion of the following learning activities, the learner will havebeen introduced to the basic concepts of future shock.


1. Read the following and be prepared to discuss them in small groups(see attached course schedule)

a) Alvin Toffler, Future Shockb) Don Fabun, The Dynamics of Changec) Wendall Johnson, Living with Change

Various articles and/or additional readings will be suggestedthroughout the course.

2. View the following: *'°20r-,:v

.

a "Future Shock" with Orson Wells, Narratorb "R. Buckminster Fuller--Prospects for Humanity"c "This is Marshall McLuhan--The Medium is the Message"d) "R. Buckminster Fuller--Fuller's World" (3 part Videotape)e) "Man's Impact on the Environment"

3. Listen to the following and be prepared to discuss:

(a) "2000 A.D." with Chet Huntley, Narrator(b) "Alvin Toffler: Future Shock"(c) "Toward 1984"

4. Discuss the above items in small groups. Enumerate the basic conceptslisted by the authors read in such areas of concern as life, tele-communication, knowledge, population, technology, human relationships,human resources, travel, organizational structures, etc.. What arethe symptoms of change and future shock? Why are we suffering fromfuture shock? What are the implications of future shock for oursociety? How does one go about developing future shock absorbers?Why is it even important to discuss the future? Each group will havean opportunity to present their ideas to the class as a whole, andto interact with each other's perceptions.


Class participation and involvement will be the basic parameter for evaluatingthe success of these learning activities.

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Upon completion of the following learning activities, the learner will havehad the opportunity to "creatively" deal with the basic concepts of changeand future shock.


1. Based on your readings and interaction with other materials partici-pate in and write a LELPHI STATEMENT with regard to future and thenature of change and its effects upon your area of interest.

and/or

2. Write a "laugil-in"script featuring jokes, skits and songs dealingwith change.

and/or

3. Write a "future autobiography" exploring your life in the future.

and/or

4. Write a science fiction story dealing with the future.

and/or

5. Prepare a multi-media presentation on future shock (to be based onthe Toffler book).

and/or

6. Write and prepare a newspaper which deals with the year 2001.

and/or

7. View the following films, and write a critical essay on one or moreof them: 2001 Space Odyssey, Profiles of the Future, CBS Camera Three:Alvin Toffler, R. Buckminster Fuller and Arthur C. Clarke, The WarGame,Of Time, Work and Leisure, or any others as approved by theinstructor which related to future shock.

and/or

8. OPEN--discuss with the instructor your idea for approval.


Presentation of the project undertaken, either to the class as a whole, or asa written project handed in.

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Upon completion of this objective, the learner will have become acquaintedwith some of the resources available for discussing and developing materialsand ideas related to the "future".


1. Each person is to write requesting information as to the (a) natureand scope of the research being performed (b) the type of staffing(c) the type and frequency of their publications as related to theirresearch and (d) the availability of free materials from theirorganization, from the following:

Commission on the Year 2000

Harvard Program on Technology and Society

Institute for the Future

2. Each person is to (a) either obtain a subscription to one or moreof the following, (b) or obtain a copy of a recent past issue andreview the type of materials which might be available, of thefollowing:

The Futurist (bi-monthly out of Washington)

Futures (quarterly from Surrey, England)

3. Each person is to compile a listing of useful resources which mightbe consulted when dealing with themes for the future; these resourcesshould include organizations (see above), publications (see above.,including books and periodicals, and very useful articles), games(see Future by the Kaiser Aluminum Corporation), and/or any otheruseful items. All members shall pool their findings and make amaster comilation for distribution to all class members.


This is a self-directed objective with exception of item #3. All class membersshall be encouraged to contribute to the final resource package as quickly aspossible.

no LittAVAILABLE

TheDeas/Fart Vieth airW

Southwest tiletroplus

"This is America's foremost airportfor today andfor a long time to come."Claude S. BrimegarU.S. Secretary ofTransportation

I he following is *factual summary of the new Dallas/Port Worth Airport:

Sias/Location The airport is about eight miles north or the 34-mile-long Dallas/FortWorth Turnpike. which connects the two cities. It is approximately 17 miles from thecenter of each of the cities. Larger than Manhattan Island. the airport is nine mileslong. eight miles wide and covers 17.500 acres.

This is the first airport conceived and planned using extensive computer simulationanalysis. The result is an airfield that when completed will accommodate highervolumes of air traffic than any other airport in the world. The SO-nautical miles of airspace around Dallas/Fon Worth will be able to sustain an ultimate annual enplane-ment demand of more than 100 million passengers. Perhaps of more significance Isthat at ultimate capacity this airport can handle as many aircraft in a peak hour as allthree New York airports combined now handle in the same time period.

Drive-To-Gate Concept Based on the plannin4 concept of one terminal-one airplaneconfiguration, the resulting design is an adjoining series of "mini-terminals" within"half-loop" structures. serving small groups of airplanes and passengers. Additional"half-loops" will be added as airline needs grow. So despite the vast size of theairport. passengers are concerned with only one small terminal area. Ticketing, checkin services and baggage check, along with public concessions such as newsstands,lunch counters, and personal service facilities, are in close proximity to the check inareas. From front door of the terminal building to the aircraft entrance, the travelermay walk as little as 120 feet. Another convenience is automobile parking availablein front of terminal buildings in direct proportion to the aircraft gates.

Passenger Accessibility The airport is accessible with both north and southentrances and exits. A passenger arriving in his own car drives along InternationalParkway, a multi-lane high-speed roadway connected to expanded state highways atthe north and south ends of the airport. Autos travel on separate roadways fromtrucks and other commercial vehicles, which eliminates traffic confusion. A sophis-ticated system of dynamic signing smoothly guides the passenger to the entrance ofhis "mini-terminal."

The inter-terminal people mover within the airport is a unique transportationsystem known as AIRTRANS (developed by the LTV Aerospace Corporation).This fully automated transit system utilizes 40-passenger rubber-tired cars that movealong concrete guideways. Average riding time from point to point is ten minutes. Inthe opening phase there are fourteen passenger stations in the system linkingterminals, remote parking areas, airport hotel, and regulatory facilities. A total of 51vehicles do the "people moving" over a 13-mile course and seventeen utility vehiclesmove baggage,ntail,supplie s.and refuse. Routes will be expanded as the airport grows.

100 Million Panting. by 2001 Due to begin operation on October 28, 1973, theopening phase provides a layout of two north-south runways over two miles long anda 9,000 foot crosswind runway. The 6,500 foot distance between the primaryrunways gives the airport a capacity for simultaneous aircraft operations. The fourterminal buildings will house a total of 66 passenger gates and twelve cargo gates willalso be in operation. The airport expects over 15 million passengers will use thefacility during its first year of operation.

At ultimate completion in 2001, the jetport is expected to accommodate more than100 million passengers annually through 260 gates in 13 "half-loop" terminals. I herewill eventually be six primary instrument runways capable of three simultaneousoperations. Runways will be of length and thickness to handle any plane now inservice and will be readily expandable to service aircraft weighing over 2 millionpounds envisioned for future commercial use. Space is allocated for 200cargo gatescapable of handling as much freight as all 13 Texas seaports combined.

Ecologically Suitable Prior to land acquisition, about 12.000 acres of the airportsite were devoted to agriculture with rather low-yield harvest. Part of the presentland management program of the airport currently includes leasing approximately2,000 of these acres to a resident farmer for agricultural purposes. There are nosignificant bodies of water, fuel or non-fuel minerals, forests, fish, or wildlife speciesthat will be altered or destroyed during the course of development. No significantrecreational areas, areas of unique interest or scenic beauty, wildlife refuges,government reservations. geological formations, public lands, or other similar ame-nities will be destroyed or damaged by the development and operation of this facility.The airport's own ecology plan for the opening will turn the prairie land into a park-like atmosphere with the addition of 10,000 trees, 4,000 shrubs, and more than onemillion ground cover plants. Dallas/Fort Worth is the only airport to win aninternational award for its landscaping program.

Sound Sutter Even when fully developed to meet air traffic demands of the year2001, the airport's north -south boundaries will be three miles from the ends of itsprimary runways. and crosswind runways will end two miles from the airport limits.

Henry L. Newman, director of the Southwest Region ofFAA, points out: "Pilotswill never have to resort to throttling back shortly after takeoff to prevent noise, norwill we need banes, depressed runways, or water curtains used for noise abate-ment." That, plus the wide runways spaced for safety, is why the airport has been sostrongly endorsed by the Airline Pilots Association.

N

Setting the course for the future: A°

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To discuss and assess the implications of change and future shock in our pre-sent times.


Upon completion of the following learniny activities, each learner will havemade an intensive investigation and assessment of change as it affects presenttimes.


1. Student participants will form small (max. 5 members) mini-thinktanks within which they will operate throughout the course.

2. Each mini-think tank will develop a series of questions with whichthey can assess current perspectives.

3. Each mini-think tank will be prepared to discuss their thinkingand findings with the other members of the class, in order to developa system for assessing change and future shock as a whole, and forthe development of constructive recommendations.

4. Below are suggested some areas of concern within which an assessmentof change can be conducted. The objective of these endeavors willbe to (a) delineate some criteria for assessment, and (b) to assessthe present status of society.(a) Survival Questions

Why do we burn and/or store food while millions starve? Howmight the population growth be stemmed? What pollutants aremost serious to our community? Can we continue to tolerateunlimited consumption? How can we resolve our energy concerns?

(b) What communities seem to be changing the most, and why?

(c) Maintain a press clipping file on current changes; why has changecome%about? What criteria were used in assessing the affectsof change? When sufficient clippings have been collected, pre-pare a newspaper that features the important news of change.

(d) List animals and races of men that are extinct because theycould not adapt to change. What animals and races of men todayare again threatened due to a lack of ability to cope withchange? What could have been, or can be done to avoid extinction?

(e) The Astronauts have been described as the only ones in our pre-sent society educated with "future shock absorbers". What typeof education do astronauts ;13 through in preparation for travelinto outer space? How does this differ from public education?List each of the astronauts who have flown into outer space, anddetermine the condition of their current life styles--family,marriage, job, etc. What conclusions might be drawn from thiscomparison?

Second-order consequences of invention are usually overlookedand must not be any longer. When the car was invented, roadshad to be constructed, parking lots had to be built, new lawshave to be introduced and old ones changed. List major inven-tions and unexpected consequences, including the area of war-fare and space science.

(f)

(g) What technological advances could we have done without? Isprogress really our most important product?

(h) Compile (bring in for display uses) objects that are obsoleteor no longer popular (e.g. hula hoop). What effect does theobsolence of things have on family life and generational dif-ferences? (If the objects are no longer available, try to obtaina photograph or picture of the object for the display). Developa display of these objects, and predict into the future thoseobjects currently in our society which likewise may becomeobsolete.

(1) The world of athletics have had their limits continually expanded..The four minute mile, the pole vault nave been breakthroughs.Name similar breakthroughs, the reasons why, and when we mightexpect them to occur (year). Prepare these materials one of twoways; ditto charts for all class members; or on a large posterboard for use in a display area.

OPEN--there are many other areas which one might be interestedin investigating and assessing. Consult with the instructorwith regard to your idea, and the method of presentation.

5. Participate in a field experience.


Each mini-think tank will select one or more of the areas above and (a) developa series of ten questions which ha4 heuristic value for future research and/or(b) will prepare the materials as suggested above. Questions to be developedcan be used in the field experience.

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To stimulate each participant's creative abilities as to how the future mightbe, and therefore, what kinds of "shock absorbers" might he warranted.


Upon completion of the following learning activities, the learner will havehad an opportunity to "fictionalize" the concepts of future shock and change.

LEARNING ACTIVITIES FOR B.0..#1

1. All learners will have an opportunity to participate in a mini-thinktank, to deal with some of the following areas of concern:

(a) Prepare a film or multi-meeia presentation on things which mightshock people concerning the future.

or

(h) Prepare a report outlining ways in which society can managechange (see Tuffler, p. 379).

or

(c) Prepare a report on the feasibility of enclaves of the futureand of the past, methods for selection and operation (see Toffler,p. 392).

or

(d) Prepare a report on the role of ritual in the future (see Toffler,p. 394).

or

(e) Prepare a game which will assist in the development of humaneelations in the future (see Tofflar, p. 95).

or

(f) Prepare a report on the recommended values for our future society(see Toffler, p. 467).

or

(g) Prepare a report on how man will survive, upon what criteriasurvival will be based, if change cannot be controlled, and gross-massive shortages of food occur coupled with environmentalpollution.

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or

(h) Prepare a report dealing with how to cope with "capitalism" and.:change in the future (see Toffler, p. 51).

(i)

or

Prepare an indepth report on change and the future as it relatesto an established professional organization (e.g. AMA, AmericanBar, Speech Communication Assoc., State Education Association,etc.) (see Toffler, p. 124).

or

(j) Prepare a report on recent medical inventions,i.and how medicinewill affect future life (e.g. artificial insemination, artificialparts of the body, etc.)(see Toffler, p. 197).

or

(k) Prepare Delphi Event Statements on one or more subject areas asstudied during the course.


Classroom reports and participation from the findings of those items indicatedunder Instructional Objective #3 will be the basis of assessing the involvementof each learner. Reports will be assessed on their depth and critical natureplus the seriousness and descriptive nature of their recommendations.

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